Wrapping Up 2024

Do you know what Rickey Henderson, Kobe Bryant, Kurt Suzuki, Charles Woodson, Barry Bonds, Doug Wilson, and Marshawn Lynch all have in common?  They all wore #24 at some point in their careers and they're all athletes I really like and collect.

That's why I'm wrapping up 2024 with a celebration of these athletes and twenty-four of their cards featuring clear shots of #24.

The cards will be presented in chronological order... so you'll see streaks of certain players.  That's because some of these players wore #24 during specific parts of their career.

For example, Barry Bonds wore #24 for most of his tenure in Pittsburgh which lasted from 1986 to 1992.  Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of quality examples of his cards featuring #24.  However I was able to dig up two of his early oddball issues with nice photos:

1987 Classic Travel Update #113

1988 Kenner SLU #NNO

Three of my all-time favorite athletes wore #24.  Rickey Henderson wore #35 his first stint in Oakland and #22 right after the Yankees traded him back.  However... he only wore #22 a minute amount of games in 1989.

1992 Donruss Elite Legends #NNO

He worked out a deal with Ron Hassey to acquire #24 (the number he wore in New York) which is the number he wore with the A's from 1989 to 1993, 1994 to 1995, and in 1998.

Charles Woodson wore #24 for the Oakland Raiders.

1998 Bowman Chrome Interstate Refractor #181

He was such a fun player to watch... that I liked him immediately after entering the NFL.  But I became an even bigger fan when he signed with the Green Bay Packers in 2006.

2000 Crown Royale Game Worn Jersey #6

Not sure why he ended up wearing #21 for the Green & Gold.  But when he returned to Oakland in 2013, he went back to #24.

Another one of my all-time favorite athletes is Kobe Bryant.  You won't see any of his early cards featured in this post though, because he wore #8 the first half of his career from 1996-97 to 2005-06.  But he switched to #24 in 2006-07:

2006-07 Finest Green Refractor #25

I acquired most of these Kobe cards during the late 2000's when they were still affordable and I was still opening basketball products.

2007-08 Bowman Draft Picks & Stars Triple Relics #BR-KB

2007-08 Fleer Feel the Game #FG-KB

2007-08 Stadium Club Beam Team Relics #BTR-KB

This one isn't valuable, but it does feature a fantastic action shot of him:

2007-08 Topps #24

Don't worry... there's more baseball coming up.  Just two more Kobe relics:

2008-09 Topps T-51 Murad Relics #T51R-KB

2008-09 Topps Treasury Relics #TTR-KB

Okay... let's transition back to baseball and another all-time favorite player of mine:

2009 Allen & Ginter Mini Printing Plate #105

Kurt Suzuki wore #24 for the Oakland A's in 2008.

2009 Topps Heritage Clubhouse Collection Relics #CC-KS

I'm not sure why he opted to switch to #8 in 2009, but that's the number he wore the majority of his tenure in Oakland.

I've always thought it was cool that Kurt and Kobe both wore #8 and #24.

Okay... one final jersey card of Kobe:

2009-10 Crown Royale King on the Court Materials #10

Okay... transitioning from the hardcourt to the gridiron, we go from The Black Mamba to Beast Mode:

2012 Topps Prolific Playmakers Autograph #PPA-ML

Marshawn Lynch started his NFL career with the Buffalo Bills where he wore #23.  However he was traded mid-season to the Seattle Seahawks in 2010 and wore #24.  That's the number he wore in high school and his freshman year at CAL.

If you're a baseball fan who patiently stuck around, here's a few more baseball cards:

2012 Topps Retired Number Patch #RN-RH

2013 Topps Five Star Autographs #FSBA-RH

2015 Gypsy Queen Autographed Relics #AR-RH

2016 Topps Tribute Ageless Accolades Autograph #AA-RH

2017 Topps Definitive Autographed Relic #DCAR-RH

I'm not sure when it happened, but sometime around 2013 or 2014... Topps started inserting a ton of Henderson on-card autographs into their products.  This flooded the market and allowed collectors like me to start adding them to my collection for $50 or less.

2017 Topps Five Star Heart of a Champion Autograph #FSHC-RH

The Hobby Boom of 2020 changed the way people collected... and drove Rickey's autograph prices through the roof.  I haven't bought a single one since.

Switching sports... here's a San Jose Sharks legend:

2019-20 UD Chronology Canvas Autographs #CA-WI

Doug Wilson only played two seasons in San Jose, but he spent sixteen seasons in the NHL.  He wore #24 the entire time.  After he retired, he would return to the organization in 2003 as their general manager where he built a perennial playoff team.

Let's wrap things up with one last Rickey:

2020 Topps 1985 Topps Baseball Relics #85R-RH

Well there you have it... twenty-four cards of seven guys who wore #24.

Now I know there are a bunch of legends like Willie Mays, Ken Griffey Jr., Miguel Cabrera, Rick Barry, and a bunch of others that I left out of this post.  But I wanted to narrow it down to guys I really, really liked to root for... and collect.

Not a fan of my selections?  Create your own list of 24 cards showing of #24.

Happy New Year and sayonara!

BBA: 5 Best Pack Pulled Hits

I'm always down for a Blog Bat-Around.  The topic currently trending around the blogosphere is posting your five best pack pulled hits.  It was inspired by Matt over at Diamond Jesters who utilized TCDB to create a list of all of his relics, autographs, and serial numbered cards in his collection.  He then isolated which ones were pulled from packs and voilà he formed his list.

Regretfully... I have yet to inventory my entire collection of anything outside of my Steve Largent PC on TCDB... so my process will be a little more challenging and probably inaccurate (in the sense that I might be forgetting some cards).

For the sake of this BBA, I'm going to follow Matt's guidelines of only counting relics, autographs, and serial numbered cards that I have personally pulled from a pack.  I haven't been opening up a lot of packs or boxes since the pandemic, but thankfully there were a few periods in my life when I did.  All of these hits were from those times.

Let's start things off with a few honorable mentions...

Honorable Mention #1:  Gehrig Bat Card

2004 Topps Clubhouse Collection

Career Legends Relics #CL-LG2 (#'d 158/184)

This card would definitely make my Top 5... but there's an asterisk attached to it.  Technically I wasn't the one who pulled this sweet card from a pack.  That honor goes to Colbey over at Cardboard Connections who hosted a group break and I happened to purchase the New York Yankees.

Honorable Mention #2:  Printing Plates

2020 Topps A&G Framed Black Printing Plate #30 Eloy Jimenz

2009 Topps 206 Printing Plate Mini Piedmont #104 Mark Melancon

2007-08 Topps Signature Printing Plate #TS-DJ Deandre Jordan

2017 Topps Bunt Magenta Printing Plate #132 Carlos Gonzalez

I felt like I should at least recognize the printing plates I've pulled.  There might have been one or two more.  Maybe one day it'll come to me.  Maybe it won't.

Honorable Mention #3:  Golden Babe Ruth of Higo 

2022 Topps Chrome NPB

1958 Gold Refractor #58-20 (#'d 37/50)

I pulled this shiny refractor from a box of cards that SumoMenkoMan sent me last Christmas.  Munetaka Murakami is one of the best hitters in the NPB and he's only 24 years old.  We'll just have to wait and see if he can carry his big numbers over to the MLB in a few years.

Honorable Mention #4:  An Under-Appreciated Relic Card

1996 Press Pass Jersey Card #J3

This was the first jersey card I ever pulled from a pack.... which makes sense when you see the year this card was produced.  Upper Deck gets credit for producing the first memorabilia cards in 1996, but Press Pass wasn't very far behind.

Honorable Mention #5:  Jumbo Jeter

2003 Flair Sweet Swatch Jumbo Jersey #DJ-SSJ

This is one of those questionable pack pulls.  Did I pull it from a pack?  Yeah.  But it was one of those 2003 Flair box topper packs that came in a Fairfield Collector's Cache Box from a decade ago.  Each of those packs contained either a memorabilia card or an autograph.  I actually pulled a Jeff Bagwell autograph too... but I like the Jeter more.

Honorable Mention #6:  Secretariat's Saddle

2012 Panini Golden Age Museum Age Authentic Collection #20

In regards of coolness... this card can be swapped into any of the Top 5 spots.  I've only been to the track a few times in my life, so my knowledge of horse racing is limited.  But I definitely know the name "Secretariat".

Alright... enough of the honorable mentions.  Let's get to my five best pack pulled hits...

#5:  A Fundamental Signature

1999-00 Topps Gallery Autographs #TD

I knew this was a pretty nice hit when I pulled it back in 1999 or the early 2000's.  But years later, I discovered it was a pretty significant one.

Some players don't have a lot of certified pack inserted autographs.  Tim Duncan is one of those guys.  

#4:  One Joe Leads to Another

2008 UD Masterpieces Stroke of Genius

Redemption Card for Joe Montana

Back in 2011, I opened a case of this product and as luck would have it... I pulled a redemption card of one of the greatest quarterbacks of all-time.  Too bad it was expired.

I reached out to someone over at Upper Deck and this card eventually showed up as a consolation prize:

2008 UD Masterpieces Stroke of Genius #SOG50

I didn't hold onto this card for long.  Flipped it on eBay for a nice chunk of change.

#3a:  Beautiful Bird

2009-10 Bowman 48 Locker Room

Autographed Relic #LRCAR-LB

There was a short period in my life when I enjoyed buying cases on clearance and opening them.  2009-10 Bowman 48 was one of them.  There are a few cards from that case break that could make this list in regards to monetary value, but I'll keep it to two and let you decide which one makes the cut.

First up is this low numbered, patch auto of Larry Legend.  Even though I grew up hating the Celtics... I was pretty stoked to add this card to my collection.  I don't normally sell cards, but I did end up selling it at a card show a couple of years ago.

Here's the other card I really like from that case...

#3b:  The Baby Faced Assassin

2009-10 Bowman 48 #106

If there was a Mount Rushmore of all-time Bay Area sports legends voted on by fans... I'm pretty confident Steph would be on it.  The guy is very popular around here and his rookie cards sell for crazy money.

I ended up pulling two copies of this card and two of his blue bordered parallels.

It's not one of his most attractive rookie cards, but it's serial numbered and people are willing to pay a lot of money for it.

#2:  The Only Rickey Autograph

2014 Panini Hometown Heroes Scripted Legacy #SLRH

This card has the least monetary value on the list, but it has a ton of sentimental value.

I have accumulated a bunch of Rickey Henderson autographs over the years, but this is the only one I pulled from a pack myself.

#1:  My Sweetest Pull of All-Time

1999 UD Retro Inkredible #WP

As a child of the 70's and 80's, I had the honor of watching Walter Payton play.   Ask football fans from that era and they'll tell you he was special and one of the all-time greats.  Sadly he passed away only a few months after turning forty-six.

I pulled this card from a pack a few months later (shortly after pulling the Duncan auto) and it became the cornerstone of my autograph collection.  One of my buddies is a huge Chicago Bears fan, so I eventually sold this to him when I sold off the bulk of my collection in the early 2000's.  Thankfully he held onto it... and was willing to sell it back to me over a decade later.

Well that's my list of best pack pulled hits.  This was a pretty challenging post to write... and there's a chance I'm leaving some cards off this list.  Even as I'm wrapping up this post, I just remembered a couple of hockey cards I pulled in the mid 90's that are probably worth mentioning.  But it's in the wee hours of the morning and I don't have the time to dig them out and scan them.

So I'll wrap things out with a quick thank you to Matt for kicking off this Blog Bat-Around.  

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!